


A Rather Large Surprise

by marveyllous



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Freeform, Humor, M/M, Original Character(s), Road Trips, Season/Series 05, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-12 19:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4491471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marveyllous/pseuds/marveyllous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey receives a rather large surprise for his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. RV Specter

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://teamfreewill-.tumblr.com/post/124989173654/patrick-j-adams-was-there-any-other-name-for) on tumblr.
> 
> Originally posted as a short ficlet on [my tumblr](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com/post/125723934724/a-rather-large-surprise). I'm [skinnytiesandbluescarves](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com) on tumblr, come check out my blog and talk to me! I'm always looking for friends (:

Mike steps into Harvey’s office, barely able to contain his grin, but trying not to betray too much excitement lest it give away anything. “Harvey!” he smiles, “I have something to show you.”

Harvey was in the middle of scanning a contract for errors, and looks up, rather unamused. “What is it?”

Mike looks a bit… bashful? “It’s uh, downstairs, actually. Outside.”

Harvey just raises his eyebrow.

“Look - just, come see okay? I know you’re busy and all, but I promise it’ll be worth leaving your work for a few minutes.” Mike smiles hopefully at him.

With a quick eye roll and a small tug at the corner of his mouth, Harvey leaves his desk and walks to the elevator with Mike. He can practically feel the energy buzzing off of Mike as they travel down in the elevator. God, if it’s an estranged puppy or something living in one of the bushes in their lawn that Mike wants to rescue, he is going to make him pay for wasting five minutes of his very expensive, billable time.

As they step outside the building, Mike turns to Harvey. “Close your eyes,” he orders.

Harvey glares at him for a second before deciding to humour Mike, making a huge point of shutting his eyelids. Mike walks him outside, around to the… parking lot? Yes, they’re definitely in the parking lot now, they’ve walked all the way around the building.

“Okay, now… open them!” 

Harvey grudgingly opens his eyes to find a decently-sized RV staring at him. What on earth? “You - you bought me an RV?” he sputters. It says “RV Specter” on the windshield.

“Yes, sort of. It’s your birthday gift!” Mike beams up at Harvey.

Harvey just blinks, uncomprehending, at him. “What the hell would I do with an RV?”

“That’s exactly it! You didn’t let me finish - your birthday gift is this fantastic RV and a two-week vacation.” Mike sing-songs.

“Vacation? You think work does itself?”

“Look, Harvey, in the almost five years I’ve known you, I know you’re not the pack-up-and-spend-a-week-in-Hawaii type of guy and you’ve probably never taken a vacation, but I honestly think you deserve it, and you could seriously use one. You know, with… everything that’s been going on.” _Donna. Your panic attacks. Your therapist._ “I think it’d help you relax a little.” Mike smiles gently.

Mike doesn’t say it, but Harvey knows exactly what “everything that’s been going on” Mike is referring to.

“Besides, I’ve already spoken to Louis and Jessica, who, as part of their contribution to your birthday gift, have generously agreed to take care of all your clients while we’re gone. And Rachel’s also agreed to help with my work.”

“Oh, _we’re_ vacationing together?” Harvey has that signature corner of his lip quirked up.

“Yeah, I was thinking we could maybe drive down to Vegas or something.”

“ _We?_ ” Harvey searches Mike’s eyes meaningfully.

“Yeah,” Mike looks a bit shy, “I’ve been taking lessons. I can officially drive as long as a fully-licensed adult is with me. Which is where you come in, of course.” Mike grins widely.

Harvey’s still not convinced. Almost, but not quite. “There’s only one bed in that tiny thing.”

Mike blinks. “There’s also a large, very comfy extendable couch.”

“Well, since it’s my birthday, you’ll be sleeping on the couch. And you’re driving at night, I need my beauty sleep.”

Mike can no longer contain his excitement. Did Harvey seriously just agree to take a two-week long vacation with him in an RV? “Done and done.”

Harvey grins indulgently at him. “Come on, let’s go inform the office we’re going on vacation.”

They head back into Pearson Specter Litt, going straight to Jessica’s office.

“Congratulations, Mike. I didn’t think anyone would be able to convince Harvey to take a vacation. Have fun, Louis and I will handle your clients and if anything does come up, keep your phones on.” Jessica smiles one of her rare, genuine smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey and Mike begin the first day of their roadtrip!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if this should have smut, but I'm thinking about it in later chapters. This fic is canon compliant for Season 5 for everything except the fact that Mike and Rachel aren't engaged. Or even dating. So, I'm open to either idea - this could be more general Marvey or rather smutty? Ideas/suggestions and constructive criticism are always appreciated, so lemme know!
> 
> Posted from [my tumblr](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com/post/125807777159/a-rather-large-surprise-part-two#notes).

Harvey knocks three times gently on Mike’s door. After a few moments he doesn’t hear anything, and has just raised his hand to knock again when he hears a groan and a loud thump on the other side of the door. Fourteen angry sounding footsteps later, the door opens roughly to reveal a disheveled, bleary-eyed Mike with his hair sticking up all over his head.

“What?” he glares angrily at Harvey.

“Why the face?” Harvey smirks at Mike, “It’s our first day of vacation! Thought we’d get off to an early start.”

They had decided the evening prior to sleep in the comfort of their own beds for one last night before two weeks of living in a cramped RV.

“It’s 5:57 am!” Mike protests.

“Roads will be emptier,” Harvey says simply. “Come on, get dressed and packed.” Harvey stares Mike down.

Mike hurriedly scurries across the room, haphazardly throwing clothes into his suitcase from where they’re strewn all around the room. Seriously, did the kid not understand what the word organization meant? “Oh, don’t forget to bring a tux.”

“Casinos!” Mike exclaims, running to his closet to grab a tuxedo.

Harvey frowns when he pulls the tux out of his closet. “Is that the  _same_  tux you wore to Atlantic City a couple years ago?”

“Hey, never touch my tuxedo.”

“That’s definitely not a rental.” Harvey quirks his lips up. “Seriously though, I pay you big-time. Get yourself some more tuxedos. And, really, you’re quoting  _The Tuxedo_?”

Mike just sticks a tongue out at Harvey. “Okay I’m done packing, breakfast?”

“We can eat on the way, the earlier we leave the less traffic.”

They travel down to the parking lot in a comfortable silence. Harvey looks at Mike sidelong for a moment. He can’t tell what the other is thinking. Harvey closes his eyes briefly and breathes out deeply. He can do this. The RV is large enough that Mike won’t constantly be invading his personal space. It’s not a bad size, actually. It looks tiny from the outside, but now that they’ve stepped in, there’s room for them to both move around and sit comfortably without bumping into one another. There’s even a mini-bar in the kitchen and two flat-screen TVs. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

Harvey takes the first shift driving, and when he turns around to glance at Mike the kid’s already asleep, his head off to the side on the couch and lips parted slightly. Harvey shivers and quickly turns back around.

“Mike, wake up. Time for breakfast,” Harvey shakes Mike none too gently.

The rookie jerks awake, blinking at Harvey. “Sweet, where to?”

Harvey just grins and starts walking out of the RV, and hears rather than sees Mike scrambling to catch up with him.

“ _Denny’s_? Really? Where is Harvey Specter and what have you done with him?”

“Hey, their omelettes are damn good.”

Harvey and Mike sit down and order their food - a Meat Lover’s Omelette for Harvey and a Cinnamon Pancake Breakfast for Mike.

“So, what exactly did you have in mind for two weeks in Vegas? We can’t possibly play poker for two whole weeks,” Harvey says as he chews. “Actually,  _I_ could, but  _you_  definitely couldn’t,” Harvey amends. “You don’t have enough savings to lose for two whole weeks.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know my poker skills are hard to beat.”

“Mmhmm.” Harvey smirks.

“Anyway, I was thinking we could see the Red Rock Canyon, go racing, see the Bellagio... But, you know, whatever you want, it’s your birthday vacation.”

“Those don’t sound too bad. I’m in a giving mood, you can pick the places we’ll visit.”

~~~~~

Mike takes over driving and at first Harvey can’t contain his concern, sitting in the passenger seat and yelling at the rookie to watch out or stop or drive fucking slower dammit every few minutes. After a while, though, Harvey realizes Mike’s driving is pretty steady and not entirely hopeless, so he smiles, “Not bad, rookie. I see you’re picking up driving like everything else. I’m going to go snooze in the back, wake me up if anything happens.”

Mike doesn’t even look at him, but Harvey can see his mouth turn up.

~~~~~

Harvey’s suddenly jolted awake as the vehicle grinds to a stop, and he looks around to the front, bewildered. Mike is nowhere to be seen. And suddenly he’s wide awake and leaping out the door, because  _shit_ , did something happen while he was asleep? Harvey nearly sighs with relief when he sees Mike standing outside the RV, holding a pump to the gas tank. 

It’s already almost dark outside. How long has he been asleep? Has he forced Mike to drive for too long - is the kid tired? Harvey wants to express his concern for him, so of course he asks instead, “You know how to fill the gas?”

Mike rolls his eyes. “How old do you think I am, five?”

The corner of his lip quirks up on its own. “You certainly act like it sometimes.”

“I figured it out when I started driving.”

Harvey smiles at him as they get back into the vehicle and takes over. He puts on a CD of his favourite jazz tunes in the background and drives serenely, occasionally watching Mike sleep in the rearview mirror. Around nine, he pulls up in a trailer park and shakes him awake. 

“It’s past 9, do you want to call it a day?” Harvey asks. He supposes Mike could keep driving at night if he wanted to, and that was, after all, one of the conditions of their original verbal contract when Harvey had agreed to come on this trip, but god, it was decidedly very dark on the I-80 and the kid had only recently learned how to drive.

“I can drive if you want. Go get your sleep, Sleeping Beauty.”

Harvey pointedly decides to ignore that last comment. “Actually, I was thinking we could set up camp and catch a movie or two. We could re-watch Top Gun, or do a Star Trek marathon if you’re up for it.”

“You brought movies?” Mike brightens up, looking at Harvey expectantly.

“Yeah, what’s a vacation without a good Godfather marathon?”

Mike laughs, one of his real, gleeful laughs reserved only for Harvey, and he grins. “Do I get to pick the movie?”

“Do humans lay eggs? No, of course not rookie. I think I’m rather feeling The Godfather tonight, you up for it?”

“Well what I can say, you’ve made me an offer I can’t refuse.”

Harvey goes leafing through his DVD collection in search of The Godfather and Mike goes to get them a couple of beers from the mini-bar. They settle down on the couch as the movie starts out.

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” Mike says in his best (which is really actually terrible) Peter Clemenza impression.

They continue quoting the movie word for word at each other until somewhere into the second film, Harvey feels Mike’s head slump down a bit and land on his shoulder. It’s almost 2 am, he’s into his fourth beer and feeling rather drowsy himself, so for once he gives in and closes his eyes, not really sensing his body tipping in Mike’s direction on the couch.

Harvey wakes to the feeling of a loud jump next to him. He blearily opens his eyes to the bright sunshine streaming in and blinks. Mike is standing in front of him, eyes wide and horrified.

“What?” Harvey snaps. His neck is cramped from… why was he on the couch? Oh shit, had he fallen asleep here last night with Mike?

“I - nothing.” Mike quickly turns around and makes a beeline for the bathroom.

Harvey stares uncomprehendingly at the back of Mike’s head until it disappears but then shrugs it off, feeling the heavy pull of his eyelids again.

He’s quickly drawn back to wakefulness by a rather loud expletive from Mike and the sounds of frantic rustling.

“Harvey I, uh, I think I forgot to pack a toothbrush.” Mike squirms, not really looking at Harvey.

He looks at Mike for a few seconds before responding, “Fine, use mine.” Harvey sighs and heads over to his suitcase on the bed, rummaging around for his toothbrush. He hands it to Mike grudgingly, who takes it and stares at the “H.S.” engraved in gold. “But if you damage it in any way, you’re paying for another one. Mind you, my toothbrush costs more than your cheap suits.”

“I uh –” Mike swallows, “Thanks Harvey.” 

When it's Harvey's turn to use the bathroom, he tries his damnedest not to think about the fact that Mike had _just used_  his toothbrush - with his name on it. He gulps and brushes his teeth the fastest he ever has.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day of driving in RV Specter.
> 
> I promise Vegas is coming soon, but it takes 37 hours to drive from NYC to Vegas so that's about three days if they stop at night.

Mike is unsettled. The kid can be an open book sometimes, well okay, all the time to Harvey, who knows the kid so well he can read him with his eyes closed. Something is bothering him. Where Mike’s driving was calm and smooth yesterday, it’s all jumpy and erratic this morning. Just as Harvey’s about to make a sarcastic remark, he catches Mike’s eye in the rearview mirror, and Mike quickly looks away, the car swerving unceremoniously to the left.

“Hey, eyes on the road,” Harvey calls out, but it’s only half-hearted. They’d fallen asleep on the couch together last night and ever since they’d woken up Mike had been acting strange all morning. Is Mike… _disgusted_ by having slept (literally just slept) with another man? Or perhaps he’s embarrassed? Mike had woken up before him this morning… Had Harvey done anything while he was asleep? Is Mike – god, is he offended? Or revolted? A sudden slam on the brakes shakes Harvey out of his thoughts, and he really, really almost can’t help the sarcastic comment about to slip off his tongue, but Mike’s face looks perturbed so Harvey bites it back and takes a different approach instead.

“You want to stop for breakfast? I’m getting hungry. I can take the next shift.” Harvey says tentatively.

Mike looks at Harvey in the rearview mirror for a long minute before he smiles shyly and nods. “Where to this time?”

“You know I’m a sucker for pancakes. IHOP?”

Mike laughs, and the tension in the air dissipates. “Since when do I know that?”

“Since now.”

Mike just scoffs and pulls over at the next IHOP on the road. They sit inside, having ordered their food, and an awkward silence encompasses their table.

Harvey considers bringing up the topic, but Mike doesn’t particularly look like he wants to talk about it or he would’ve already been all in Harvey’s face about it, like he is with everything he wants to confront Harvey about. So, Mike doesn’t want to confront this. And, damn it, Harvey’s always been one to avoid awkward situations. So he brings up baseball instead.

"Did you see the Red Sox lose epically to the Yankees last Tuesday?" Harvey smirks.

"Hey, it was pretty close."

"I don't know what world you live in, but in my world 13-3 is not what I call close."

Mike laughs. “Whatever.”

The earlier tension disappears and they chat easily as they eat their breakfast. Harvey takes over driving once they’re back in the RV and Mike sits in the passenger seat for a while, singing along in that terrible, horrendous dying-cat-singing-voice of his to the rock CD Harvey’s put on.

“So, where’d you put your bag of movies?” Mike asks casually.

“Okay, there is no way you are watching them without me. Especially when I’m driving, I hear distracted driving is dangerous.”

Mike laughs, “Fine, but if I’m going to be sitting up here instead of watching a good film, I get to pick the music.”

“No one asked you to sit up here,” Harvey points his chin in the direction of the couches. But when Mike doesn’t budge, he rolls his eyes and grudgingly takes out his CD. “Fine, but if it’s NSYNC or something trashy like that I’m putting my music back in.”

Mike hooks his phone to the radio system and some light rock music begins playing. It’s not absolutely horrid, actually, so Harvey lets him keep it on. They drive along comfortably, Harvey in silence and Mike singing softly along to the music. If Harvey’s honest with himself, if it were anyone else singing so _badly_ out of tune he’d tell them to shut up immediately, but Mike’s voice is oddly soothing, despite its complete lack of musical talent, so Harvey lets him continue.

They stop for lunch at a hot dog place and Mike takes over driving in the afternoon. “So, you know how in movies people on roadtrips always play games in the car? I was thinking we could do some movie trivia.”

“Bring it on.” Harvey grins.

“How many times was Tony Scott fired in the filming of Top Gun?”

“Three. Come on, you’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”

“’ _Man, lay off the Greeks. They invented civilization._ ’”

“Really? You’re quoting The Wire at me? Please, that was Jimmy McNulty.” Harvey rolls his eyes at the easy questions Mike’s been asking.

“’ _Oh dear. Have you swallowed a dictionary?_ ’” 

Harvey is actually stumped by that one. “Who the hell said that?”

“HA!” Mike shouts in triumph, “Gotcha!” He grins giddily like the kid he is. “That was Mrs. Patmore.”

“Who on earth is Mrs. Patmore?”

“Seriously Harvey? The cook in Downton Abbey?”

“Okay, that’s cheating. You _know_ I don’t watch Downton Abbey.”

“I still stumped you.”

“Whatever.”

They continue quizzing each other on movie quotes and trivia until long after the sun has set, and when they finally find a trailer park they pull over.

“You up for another marathon tonight?” Harvey asks.

“Nah, you can put on a film if you want but I’m pretty beat, didn’t get much sleep last night and we don’t have any Red Bull in here. I think I’m just going to sleep.”

“Fine, but I’m showering first.”

“Why do you get to shower first?” Mike whines.

“Because I’ll beat you to it.” Harvey grins and runs to the bathroom, locking the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey and Mike tour Vegas!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know much about Vegas, I've only ever been once when I was like 8, so I'm mainly going off Internet research here. This chapter was getting super long so I didn't include Harvey and Mike getting drinks with Carl, but that'll happen in the next chapter for sure (;

The next day flies by quickly, with Harvey doing the bulk of the driving (he’s faster and _much_ better at driving), and Mike alternatively singing and quizzing Harvey on everything from movie quotes to the case that’s waiting for them when they get back to random quotes from books. They stop for hamburgers at lunch and eat a nice steak dinner when they finally arrive in Las Vegas. It’s past midnight when they finish their dinner, so Harvey decides to call it a night. They park in a nice, spacious RV park and set up camp, plugging in the water and draining hoses. Harvey’s honestly not sure he can handle two entire weeks in that tiny, microscopic excuse of a “home”. He doesn’t quite know why he agreed to this. How could anyone live in such a tiny space for so long? He misses the large, welcoming space of his condo and his firm, custom-made mattress already. 

“Goodnight,” Mike calls as he’s setting up blankets and pillows on the couch.

“Night,” Harvey responds and turns out the lamp in the “bedroom”.

 

~~~~~

 

Harvey wakes up feeling refreshed, something that hasn’t happened in a long time. He stretches languorously and revels in the feeling of sunshine streaming through the (albeit small) windows. Dressing in a casual black shirt and tan trousers, he walks softly over to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. As he’s waiting for the coffee machine to finish making coffee, Harvey casually glances at Mike and stops dead in his tracks. The kid is curled up on the sofa on his left side, hugging the pillow tightly. His eyes are closed and his face looks so peaceful, his mouth open slightly and drooling onto the couch. Harvey can’t help himself and stares for a good minute, before shaking out of it and making a mental note to tell Mike to wipe his disgusting drool off the couch when he wakes up. Mike suddenly stirs at the sound of the coffee brewing, and blearily gets up.

“Morning,” he mumbles sleepily. Harvey tries not to notice how adorable the kid looks all lethargic and dishevelled.

“You drool,” Harvey makes his best disgusted face.

“I do not!”

“I saw you, and you better clean up the mess on the couch or you won’t be watching any of my movies for the next two weeks.”

Mike glares at Harvey and proceeds to rummage around the kitchen, searching for a towel – in his _boxers_. Harvey keeps his eyes very diligently trained on the coffee mug in his hand.

“And put some pants on, dammit.”

Mike looks down at his boxers as if he hasn’t noticed he’s not wearing any pants. “Oh, right, forgot about that,” he mutters sheepishly and scrambles to dig some pants out of his suitcase.

Harvey rolls his eyes. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

“Well, there’s this driving place, World Class Driving, that I thought you might be interested in. You can drive Ferraris and Lamborghinis!”

“Please, I can drive Ferraris any day at my car club.”

“Yeah, but can you drive 50 miles through the Las Vegas desert? It’s a beautiful drive, I looked up photos when I was researching this trip,” Mike looks down.

Harvey grins. Driving sleek, sporty cars through the desert does sound quite enticing. “Shall we?” he gestures toward the door.

Mike looks up at him and smiles broadly, scrambling to change his shirt. They catch a cab from their trailer park to World Class Driving, where Mike looks positively giddy as they sign up for the 4 Car Exotic Open Road Experience.

“You want to drive?” Harvey asks pointedly as Mike stares at the 458 Italia convertible in awe.

“Uh,” Mike shifts from foot to foot, “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, I mean, I only started learning driving a few months ago and I’ve never driven such a… fast sports car.” 

Harvey wonders briefly if the kid’s scared of driving because the car’s fast or because it’s expensive. He nods, and walks over to the passenger side to pull open the door for Mike, “After you, my lady,” he quips. 

Mike glares at Harvey but he’s smiling too, and gets in.

Harvey starts the engine, and instantly falls in love as his foot pushes on the pedal. The car is so sleek, the engine feels so powerful yet the drive and handling are so smooth, and it just feels so comforting and exhilarating at the same time. He grins, opening up the roof and revels in the feel of the wind blowing through his hair. He hasn’t felt this free and relaxed and in control in a long time.

Harvey looks over at Mike, whose hair is blowing all over his face. “Enjoying the ride?"

Mike grins and looks over at Harvey, “This is awesome!”

Harvey chuckles, “I’m glad you made me take a vacation. I’m really enjoying this.”

“I _knew_ you’d love it,” Mike laughs and turns his head back to look at the beautiful scenery outside.

They cruise along in a comfortable silence for the next while, Mike occasionally snapping a few photos on his camera, until they reach a particularly scenic spot in the mountains. Harvey pulls over and asks, “You want to stop and take some pictures?”

“You bet.”

So he stops the car and gets out, looking down from the mountain they’re on at the world beneath him, while Mike takes pictures. When Mike finally insists that they take a selfie together, he can’t help but start to feel a little like they’re on a date. Harvey shivers and stops pursuing that line of thought immediately.

At a checkpoint, on the route, they switch cars to a LP550, and Harvey insists that Mike drive. “Mike, you’re not a bad driver, and I wouldn’t want you to miss the chance to drive a Lamborghini,” Harvey smirks, “I mean, this may be your only opportunity to drive one." 

Mike rolls his eyes but he giddily jumps into the driver seat, and Harvey enjoys the view of the desert as Mike drives.

An Audi A8 a Corvette Z06 later, they finish their 4 Car Exotic Open Road Experience package and it’s already 3 in the afternoon.

“So, what did you want to do now?” Harvey asks.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to see the fountains of the Bellagio. And apparently they have a fine art gallery, if you’re into that kind of thing.”

Harvey’s truthfully never really been interested in art, and going to museums and galleries when he was younger always bored the hell out of him. He knows a lot of his wealthy friends invest heavily in expensive paintings, but he’s never been interested in buying them or spending a huge amount of time researching the value of artwork, as some people seem to enjoy. But he does have a splendid sense of style, if he does say so himself, and he can appreciate good artwork when he sees it. So he says, “Sure, why not.”

Mike marvelling at the Bellagio fountains and snapping pictures really makes him look like the kid he is. The gallery is quite splendid, and its interior is decorated as beautifully as the paintings it contains. They slowly walk from painting to painting, and it’s oddly comfortable. Before he knows it, somehow it’s already past 7.

“You hungry?” Harvey asks.

“Yeah, we could eat dinner,” Mike licks his lips.

“I’ve heard the Bellagio’s Prime Steakhouse makes some of the best steak in the country, and I’ve actually always wanted to try it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Mike smiles.

The Prime Steakhouse is apparently all booked, but Harvey knows one of the managers, Carlton Reynolds – they were good friends back in high school. He walks over to Carlton and smiles, “Carl! Long time no see!”

Carl looks around, surprised, “Harvey? Fancy seeing you here!” He grins and spreads his arms to wrap Harvey in a hug. Harvey grudgingly allows it to happen. He hates hugs, which Carl very well knows.

“So what brings you here?” Carlton asks, letting go of Harvey.

“Well, this young man here,” Harvey gestures toward Mike, “somehow got me a vacation. We were just hoping to get a table here, I hear the steak is amazing.”

“You heard that right!” Carlton beams. “Let me see if I can open up a table for you two.”

Carlton speaks with one of the waiters at the front, and returns a few moments later. “Right this way.”

He takes them to a table in the corner, and hands them the menus. “I’m not a waiter, you know Harvey, but for you and your date, I wouldn’t want anyone else serving you. Speaking of,” Carl smiles and turns towards Mike, “who is this fine young gentleman?”

Mike visibly squirms in his chair, “Uh,” a blush spreads from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, “I’m not his date,” he mutters quickly.

Carl blinks. “Oh, well, how rude of me.” He extends a hand, “Carlton Reynolds, but call me Carl. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Mike Ross.” Mike shakes Carl’s hand.

“He’s my associa –“ Harvey starts, then corrects himself, “– was my associate. He’s a Junior Partner at the firm now.” Harvey smiles proudly at Mike.

“Oh,” Carl glances between Harvey and Mike for a few seconds, “I see. Well, what can I get you two today?”

Harvey orders a bottle of 1959 Bordeaux and a Six Peppercorn New York Steak, and Mike a Bone-in Rib Eye Steak.

Now that Carl’s mentioned it, Harvey does feel an awful lot like he’s on a date. He wonders why Carl assumed Mike was his date so quickly, but finds that he doesn’t particularly want to know the answer, so he dismisses the thought.

Mike looks rather awkward on the other end of the table, and they’ve been sitting in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, Harvey realizes as he shakes out of his thoughts. He breaks the silence, “So, Mike, I wanted to formally congratulate you on making Partner. You really do deserve it.” He smiles and raises his glass.

“Well thank you Harvey, that means a lot.” Mike lifts his glass and clinks it against Harvey’s. He looks Harvey in the eye with an intense but genuine gaze and says, earnestly, “I appreciate it.”

Their food arrives just as they finish toasting, and it smells delicious. “So are you two busy tonight?” Carl asks after setting the plates down. “I haven’t seen you in forever, Harvey, I’d like to catch up.”

Harvey glances at Mike questioningly.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mike’s invited too of course. I’d really like to get to know the man who survived all these years of being Harvey’s associate. Honestly didn’t think anyone would last that long,” Carl smirks at Harvey. “What do you say we get some drinks after my shift? I’ll be off around 10.”

“Sure, sounds good to me, if you’re up for it,” Harvey looks at Mike.

“Yeah, sounds fun.”

“Great! I’ll meet you two by the entrance at 10? There’s a wonderful bar down the street.”

“Sounds great, see you then,” Harvey smiles. He’s missed Carl, they were really good friends back in high school. Harvey’s a rather closed off person and doesn’t understand the concept of “best friends” but if he has to say so, Carl and he were as close to best friends as Harvey had ever had. But, time and physical distance had made them grow apart, and they haven’t seen each other in at least five years. Though, now that he thinks about it, it’s probably his fault. He’s always so busy at the office and has had to turn down numerous requests from Carl to meet up in Vegas.

“You didn’t tell me that’s why you wanted to eat here,” Mike says, startling Harvey’s train of thought.

“Well, that was only part of the reason. Prime _does_ make delicious steak,” Harvey says pointedly as he chews a bite of his steak.

“So, who is he?”

“An old friend. We go way back, we were pretty close in high school, but his job keeps him planted in Vegas and I’ve never had time to take a vacation and visit him. We haven’t seen each other in years.”

“You’ve never taken a vacation?” Mike gapes at him.

Harvey just raises an eyebrow and looks at him like he’s stupid. Well, he is stupid – how could he ask if Harvey has had time to take a vaction when he _knows_ how busy it always is at the office? 

Mike rolls his eyes at the raised eyebrow. “Yes, Mr. Best-closer-in-New-York-city, I know you’re hotly demanded everywhere and busy all the time, but, seriously, you’ve _never_ taken time off?”

Harvey shakes his head, “Never felt the need. Only people who aren’t satisfied with their professions take vacations to escape their jobs. I love my job and I’m best at it, why would I want to escape?”

Now Mike shakes his head, “Harvey, the point of a vacation isn’t to _escape_ your work, it’s to travel, see the world, relax and have some time off.”

“Have you been on vacation?” Harvey raises his eyebrows sceptically.

Mike looks down. “No, I – before I came to Pearson Hardman you know what my life was like. Do you really think I could have afforded a vacation back then?”

“What about in your childhood?” Harvey knows it might be too personal a question, given Mike’s tough childhood, but he can’t help himself. He knows a lot about the kid, probably more than anyone, seeing as Mike doesn’t really have any friends and he made Mike kick Trevor out of his life, but Harvey doesn’t actually know much about Mike – his favourite colour, his childhood, his sexual orientation…

“I uh –“ Mike trails off for a minute, chewing his steak. “I went to the Bahamas once when I was 7, with my parents… After that, I uh, well, Grammy wasn’t exactly rich and she was old, so we didn’t really travel anywhere.”

Harvey’s not really sure what to say. Thankfully, Mike breaks the silence, “Have you been on vacation before becoming Harvey Specter, hardass-lawyer-who-doesn’t-need-a-vacation?”

“Hey, I am _not_ a hardass,” Harvey glares playfully at Mike. “But yeah, now that you mention it, my father loved travelling but we didn’t have much money growing up, so we only ever went to the Caribbean, and Hawaii, once. When Marcus finished his first year of university we travelled to Europe for a month, just the two of us. After that, I haven’t taken a vacation since.”

“Huh. I can’t believe Harvey Specter, posh extraordinaire, has never taken a vacation of his own.”

Harvey rolls his eyes. “Well, I’m on one now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” Mike smiles.

They eat the rest of their steak, keeping up an easy conversation, talking about nothing of real importance but just enjoying each other’s company.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes getting horribly drunk works to Mike's advantage.

"Harvey and Mike! I'm so sorry I'm a bit late, I had to finish dealing with a customer." Carlton looks apologetic as he strides to the entrance where they've been waiting and chatting idly for a couple minutes.

Harvey smiles, "No need to apologize, we completely understand. Now how about that round of drinks?"

"After you," Carl grins and holds the door open for him and Mike, and they follow him down the street, still alive and bustling with people after 10 -- it is Vegas after all. They walk in an amicable silence for a couple blocks until they reach a modest but well-decorated bar. The inside is spacious, and though there are many people it isn't crowded. Harvey ventures to think it's possibly even slightly nicer than his favourite bar in New York.

"First round's on me! What would you two like?" Carl asks.

"A scotch for me and a martini for Mike," Harvey orders.

"And a whiskey for me please," Carl says to the bartender.

"Hey who asked you to order for me? Besides, why did you think I'd want a martini anyways?" Mike pouts a bit.

Harvey scoffs. "Please, you always order martinis when we get drinks."

Mike glares at him a little, and opens his mouth to say something before the bartender interrupts, placing their drinks on the counter.

"So... Mike. Tell me about yourself," Carl offers as he takes a sip of his whiskey.

"Well, I'm a Junior Partner now at the firm, as you know. Harvey hired me as his associate after interviewing dozens of Harvard douches because my brain is just that awesome," Mike jokes, "I, uh, I grew up with my grandmother, and I love to read. I consume knowledge like no one you've ever met."

They talk about their work, Carl tells them a bit about managing his restaurant -- it sure sounds like such a hassle and nowhere near as rewarding as being a lawyer -- and they down a few rounds of drinks.

Harvey’s starting to feel slightly tipsy, and he can tell Carl and Mike are too because their speech has slowed and become less articulated, and their movements have gotten less graceful. Mike suddenly downs an entire shot, and, slamming his glass back on the tabletop, he asks, “So, Carl. Tell me about you and Harvey.” Mike’s voice is a bit slurred and he waggles his eyebrows a few times suggestively. Harvey can’t resist the urge to roll his eyes.

“There’s nothing to tell, Mike,” Harvey interjects, because really, they were just old friends, and Mike doesn’t need to know more than that.

“Hmm well Harvey and I were best friends back in high school. Well, I called him my best friend, but he would never admit to such a thing,” Carl laughs. “We met in freshmen year in English class – we both thought the teacher was exceedingly dull and couldn’t analyze Othello properly for his life. And, I don’t know, we were both too smart for our small, local high school so we stuck together,” Carl shrugs.

Mike looks at Carl with a pointed glare, “You know that’s not what I wanted to know,” he says, “ _Really_ , tell me about you and Harvey.”

Carl finally seems to get what Mike had been suggesting all along. “Oh,” he raises his eyebrows, “that’s what you were asking,” and he bursts out laughing for a good two minutes, unable to stop. Harvey joins in, and the two of them are hunched over, shaking with laughter until there are tears in Harvey’s eyes. “God, you thought – ” Carl laughs some more, “—you thought there was something between me and Harvey? Hell no. For starters, we’re both straight as an arrow, and secondly why on earth would I ever be interested in _Harvey Specter_? I only put up with him because he’s smart and entertaining and keeps up with me, but Mike, you and I both know he’s a huge dickhead and emotionally constipated.”

“Hey!” Harvey mutters, but he’s still smiling with laughter.

As he turns back to Mike, however, he notices that the younger man is no longer grinning and looks rather perturbed. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks Mike.

Mike shakes his head a little groggily – he is definitely drunk. “N-nothing,” he murmurs, turning around to ask for another drink.

When Mike’s umpteenth shot arrives on the table, Carl pipes up, “Hey, what do you say we play a round of Truth or Dare?”

Harvey immediately rolls his eyes and objects, “Carl, I know you don’t act like it, but we’re full grown men, and that game is for teenagers.”

“C’mon Harvey! It’ll be fun! What do you say, Mike?”

Mike nods in agreement, “Yeah, why not?”

Harvey sighs. “As long as one of you two go first.”

“Alright, Mike, truth or dare?” Carl asks.

“Truth,” Mike answers immediately.

“Mmm… Dumbest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Spilled a briefcase full of pot at a job interview…” Carl laughs and Mike grins knowingly at Harvey. He can’t help but smirk in return.

They go on like that, already drunk and progressively getting drunker with each shot, and continue to ask dumb, personal questions of each other for the next twenty minutes. And then, when they’re all too drunk to even speak properly, finally the question gets asked.

“Sooo Miiike,” Carl slurs, “d’you like ‘nybody?”

Mike looks like a deer caught in the headlights. He freezes and blinks slowly, “Yeah, bu’ I don’ think he feels the shame way abhout meee,” Mike slurs even worse than Carl.

“Who iz ‘e?” Carl presses.

“My, uh, friend. ‘e’s a lawyhur. Tall, ‘andsome, shmart, and funny. Besht closer in New York ‘ity.”

Harvey thinks he either heard Mike’s unintelligible drunk speech wrong, or that he’s too drunk himself to understand what he’s hearing.

Carl frowns a bit, “Wait, isn’t ‘arvey the besht closer in New York?”

“Yeah, ‘e’s really good at closing peopul.”

Harvey gasps, but Mike continues on like he hasn’t made a sound. “But too bad ‘e’s strhaight.”

There’s a sudden long, awkward silence as the three of them all realize what Mike’s just admitted to.

Carl breaks the silence, “I – er – shoul’ pro’lly get home, I’m really drunk. This wazh fun, thanks for the drinks. See you later ‘arvey!” He suddenly gets out of his chair and walks rapidly (well as rapidly as he can in his drunken state) to the door without looking back.

“I…” Harvey’s at a loss for words, which doesn’t happen very often to him, even when he’s drunk out of his mind. “You… feel that way about me?” he mumbles.

Mike refuses to look at him, and gets up to walk away, only to stumble after the first few steps. God, he is a clumsy drunk. Thank god Harvey’s still able to think and walk straight. He quickly latches onto Mike’s arm as he’s about to trip over himself, and drags him gently out of the bar. He hails a cab and dumps Mike gently onto the bed when they return to their RV. Harvey knows he’s made the kid promise to sleep on the couch, but, well, he’s clearly a little too drunk himself and Mike looks so unkempt and dishevelled so he takes pity on him. Mike’s already passed out on the bed, so Harvey just quickly strips off his clothing and climbs into bed in his boxers. He makes sure to stick as close to the edge of the bed as possible, and tries his best to ignore the snoring form beside him as he wills himself to fall asleep. He thinks he hears a muffled "I love you 'arvey" as Mike mumbles in his sleep.

~~~~~

Harvey wakes up to an eyeful of sunshine and a mouthful of hair. What the hell? He blinks his eyes open immediately to find himself trapped - Mike's still fast asleep and his arms are wrapped around Harvey's, his head resting on his chest, and his legs have entangled themselves around Harvey's. The occurrences of last night slowly ingratiate themselves back into Harvey's mind, and he quickly disentangles himself from Mike and leaves the bed. He goes to the kitchen for a glass of water and finds two pills of aspirin in his suitcase, taking one for himself, and placing the other on the bedside table for when Mike wakes up. He is so not looking forward to the conversation.

Two hours later, Harvey's on his laptop reading the news when Mike stumbles out of the bedroom and into the dining area. "I... I'm so sorry about everything that happened last night, I, uh, don't really remember all of it," he looks down sheepishly, "but from what I think I remember..." Mike pauses, not sure what to say. "Look, can we just pretend last night never happened?"

Harvey gives Mike a stern glare, "No, we can't just pretend that."

Mike groans, "Look, I was excessively drunk and didn't really know what I was saying. Just - please - for this once, let it go, okay?"

"You told me you loved me, Mike, I don't think I can just let that go." Harvey holds his eye contact, keeping his gaze locked steadily on Mike's so that the other man can see, rather than hear, how he feels.

Mike sighs loudly and sits down across from Harvey on the couch. He gulps. "I... I didn't know it at the time, but I fell in love with you in that interview room at the Chilton, when you agreed to hire me despite everything I wasn't. You... you've only ever been there for me, you're the only person who really knows me, and you keep up with me. That's so rare to find, someone who challenges me intellectually. All I've ever been my life is bored. Bored at school, bored in college, bored out of my mind, by all the dimwitted people in this world. But you, you make me think, you challenge me, and sometimes you even show me up. You get me like no one else and you're the only person I've ever met who can keep up with my movie quotes. It really disappoints me when I come up with the perfect quote for a situation and Rachel or Jessica or Robert Zane are the only ones there, and they don't even get it. But you've never missed a single one. You're brilliant, Harvey, and I don't take back what I said last night. I am in love with you." Mike closes his eyes briefly and seems to steel his nerves, because he looks back up with defiant, shining blue eyes right afterward.

Harvey's speechless. He doesn't know what he could possibly say to show Mike just how much he means to him, how important he is in Harvey's life and how much he feels for him. So he does the only thing he knows how. He stands up, crosses the very small RV living room in three steps, and sits down beside Mike. He slowly - so Mike can turn it down if this isn't what he wants - reaches his hand up to cup the back of Mike's neck gently, and caresses his cheek with his thumb. Mike leans into his touch, and Harvey takes that as all the permission he needs. He leans in and kisses Mike firmly, desperately, but gently. He conveys volumes through his lips because he can't figure out how to do it in words. He tells Mike how much he fits into Harvey's life as he bites down on Mike's lower lip and slowly worships the inside of Mike's mouth. He battles Mike's tongue for dominance in his mouth to let Mike know how much Mike challenges Harvey and makes him a better person, and he continues to run his thumb along Mike's jawbone to show him how much he means to Harvey. And finally, he softens the kiss to something more delicate and sensual, and as they pull back, Harvey rests his forehead against Mike's and whispers, "You're brilliant too, Mike. You're everything to me."

Mike pulls back suddenly, a feverish gleam in his eyes and Harvey can tell he's just remembered something. He scrambles away from Harvey. "But," he gulps frantically, "you're straight, Harvey. Carl said so, last night. He said you two were straight as an arrow."

Harvey chuckles a bit, "Well, I was straight in high school, as far as Carl knew. I never told him about my college experimentation," he shrugs. "I've long since figured out that I'm bi, but, well, Carl and I were close but that really is none of his business, so I haven't told him."

Mike blinks quickly. "So, you're uh, attracted to men?"

"Kid, you have an eidetic memory. Go memorize a dictionary, I'm sure the definition of 'bisexual' is in there somewhere."

Mike glares, but he looks ridiculously cute with his mouth in a pout so Harvey pulls him back in for another round of making out.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally from my tumblr, I'm [skinnytiesandbluescarves](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com) on tumblr, come check out my blog and talk to me! I'm always looking for friends (:


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